


Lightning, Thunder and Monsters

by orphan_account



Category: Cinderella 2015
Genre: Critter, F/M, Fluff, Lightning - Freeform, Memories, Monsters, Nightmare, forgotten knight of the round table Sir Fuzzles, thunderstorm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-16
Updated: 2015-07-16
Packaged: 2018-04-09 17:13:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4357553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I had a bad dream and the monsters are going to get me if you don't let me up!" He pleaded desperately. "Please, please Papa let me up!" Kit only chuckled before hauling his little boy up and over, nestling him between himself and Ella.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lightning, Thunder and Monsters

Kit never liked autumn. When his father asked him why, he said it was because autumn heralded winter, and winter meant hardship for the people, and that had satisfied him. That was the princely thing to say. When the Grand Duke asked him why, he said it was because the roads would become muddied and that meant that trade would slow, and the merchants would become more threatened by thieves if they tarried, and that had satisfied him. When the Captain asked him why, he said it was because the weather worsened and that meant the hunts would draw to an end, and that had satisfied him. 

While they were all valid reasons as to why Kit disliked fall, although he liked hunting more because of the riding than the actual killing, they weren't the core reason, the true reason. That reason had changed, now that he was older and less daunted by things that were just facts of life, to the fact that autumn meant that the leaves would wither and fall, the flowers would shrivel and die under the assaults of the frost and the animals would weaken with the lack of food. Autumn signified, for him, death and decay (natural, but not very pleasant) and so he had misliked the season, until he met a good honest country girl in the forest on one of the last hunts of the year, and it came to mean rebirth, the end of an old life and the beginning of a new one. 

However, long before mystery maidens, lizards and pumpkins and glass slippers came into his life, the prince had disliked autumn because of the storms that plagued the land. For, while it was not a very regal thing to admit, the little prince had been decidedly petrified of thunder, lightning and heavy rain. 

One night, when he was barely more than four years old, the most dramatic storm the kingdom had known in twenty years came, which as you might imagine was not a pleasant thing for him, especially as he had been determined to forego it alone. His governess had told him that it was not befitting a prince to run to his parents when he was scared, and his father had told him that only children did such things (Mother had been helpful in pointing put that Kit was, indeed, a child, but that did not change his opinion on the subject.). So, when the first flashes of lightning light up the dark sky, accompanied by drumming echoes, Kit had curled up in a ball and pulled the coverlet over his head, trying to block out the noise and the light. He failed miserably, the lightning brighter than daylight and the thunder louder than canon fire.

At that moment in time, he couldn't help but remember what his father had told him once, about how the distance between the light and the noise was, in seconds, how faraway it was. The worst part was that there was barely anytime between the lightning and the thunder now, so loud he was scared his ears might burst and tears of fear stained his cheeks. In any other situation he would have been ashamed of them, but all he could feel was fear. For almost an hour he could barely move, petrified as the storm raged. The ships in the royal cove would be dashed to splinters, but that barely registered as Kit mustered all his courage and threw the blankets off the bed, desperately grabbing for his teddies as he positively charged down the hall and found his mothers chambers, aided by sudden flashes of light that dived through the windows. 

Kit had not thought of his fear of thunderstorms in years, of the stories his mother had whispered in his ear as the wind howled outside and rattled the windows, tales of giants in the mountains to north (Kit could see them from his window) and thunder battles of rocks and their spear like thunderbolts. Lord, he hadn't even thought of his teddy bear system! His favourite, Sir Fuzzles (the extra knight of the round table that no one seemed to remember but him), and his newest toy would follow him everywhere, and he'd set the excess one on the shelf once he received a new one, but we're getting sidetracked. Anyway, all these memories came back to him when, late one night or early one morning, Kit was awoken by the sound of a door slamming and the urgent shake of his arm by a small hand. 

Groaning, Kit turned to see Critter looking up at him, eyes big and wide, with his toy elephant under one arm (when they visited cousin Edwin in the neighbouring kingdom, Kit's beloved friend had insisted on showing Critter the menagerie and the little prince had taken a liking to one of the elephants and a stuffed toy replica was promptly made). He looked more than a little frightened. 

"I had a bad dream and the monsters are going to get me if you don't let me up!" He pleaded desperately. "Please, please Papa let me up!" Kit only chuckled before hauling his little boy up and over, nestling him between himself and Ella. 

"The monsters can't get you when you're with me." He promised Critter, the toddler snuggling closer to him at the remark. "Just promise to not make a loud noise, or you'll wake your mother." 

"I'm awake." A groggy Ella informed the pair, turning over to see her husband and child. "The monsters won't come near you, my baby." Smiling, Kit wrapped his arms around his family and drifted back to sleep.


End file.
